Hinged devices, for example two part hinged foldable devices such as mobile telephones, laptops and communicator products tend to become unstable or tip over when the device is placed on a table or resting surface and the cover or lid is opened or pivoted relative to the base particularly in an angular range from 90° to 180° . Often, these hinged devices have a keyboard or keypad in one part generally the base, and a display or screen in the other part generally the cover or lid such that the display is viewable when the keys are operated. The relative angular position of the cover is usually adjustable relative to the keypad to optimize the viewing for the user. In many instances when the cover is located in the angular range between 90° and 180°, the device tips or falls over or sways when the keys of the keypad are contacted and pressed. The hinged device often also tends to slip or slide on the resting surface during operation of the device for example when operating the keys.
A prior art two part foldable hinged device generally designated 10 and is shown in FIGS. 1-4 includes a first part or cover 12 pivotally connected to a second part or base 14 by means of a hinge 16. The base 14 includes a downwardly facing base contact surface 18 when the hinged device 10 rests on a resting surface 20. The hinged device 10 is shown in its closed or fully folded position in FIG. 1 and its center of gravity generally designated 22 is located approximately in the center of the closed device. The hinged device 10 is opened when the cover 12 is moved in the direction indicated by the direction arrow 30 about the pivot axis 24 relative to the base 14 with an angular separation between the viewing side 26 of the cover 12 and the keypad side 28 of the base 14 through the angular range indicated by the arrow 32. When the cover 12 is moved in the direction 30, the angular separation 32 between the cover 12 and the base 14 increases moving the center of gravity 22′ in the direction indicated by arrow 34 toward the hinge 16 as illustrated in FIG. 2 and the hinged device 10 continues to maintain a stable open position. As the cover 12 continues to pivot open in the direction indicated by the arrow 30 to further increase the angular separation 32′ between the cover 12 and the base 14, the center of gravity 22″ continues to move in the direction indicated by arrow 34 toward the hinge 16 and the pivot axis 24 and approaches a critical supporting point wherein the hinged device 10 is in a barely stable condition as illustrated in FIG. 3. When the cover 12 is further pivoted open in the direction indicated by arrow 30 to further increase the angular separation 32″ between the cover 12 and the base 14, the center of gravity 22″′ moves in a direction indicated by arrow 34 beyond the pivot axis 24 and the critical supporting point. The hinged device 10 is now in an unstable resting condition with the tendency of the front 36 of the base unit 14 to move upwardly away from the resting surface 20 as indicated by the direction arrow 38 with the cover 12 tending to move downwardly toward the resting surface in the direction indicated by arrow 39 as illustrated in FIG. 4.
Prior art attempts to solve the stability and tip over problem of hinged devices have not been satisfactory particularly if a device can still fall over even if the cover is approaching the 180° open position. The user is thus prevented from maintaining the hinged device on a table or other resting surface and tends to preclude the lid from being pivoted to the desired open angular position between 90° and 180°.
The present invention was created to solve the problems stated above to provide a two part hinged foldable device wherein the user may select any cover position between a fully closed folded position and a fully opened unfolded position in which the stability of the device is maintained without any further action on the part of the user throughout the full angular range of separation between the two parts of the hinged device.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a stabilization mechanism for a two part foldable hinged device.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a stabilization mechanism for a two part foldable hinged device that also functions to prevent the device from sliding on a resting surface during operation of the device.